Singapore new home sales up 18.9% in November on economic recovery hopes

Sales of higher-end homes jump from 53 units in March to 393 units last month

Singapore

NEW private home sales in November rose to 767, up 18.9 per cent from October's 645 as buyers of all stripes pin their hopes on the vaccine to revive economic activities.

Well heeled buyers joined in - the number of new homes sold above S$2,000 per sq foot (psf) rose to a nine-month high, from 53 units in March to 393 units in November this year, said Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy.

On an absolute basis, the number of new private homes sold which cost more than S$3 million last month hit 30 units, the highest recorded since January this year, said Ms Sun. Of this number, nine ultra-luxury homes above S$5 million were transacted, two of which were low-floor units at Boulevard 88 that changed hands for more than S$10 million. The two units were a 258 sqm unit sold for S$10.23 million (S$3,684 psf) and a 256 sqm unit transacted at S$10.15 million (S$3,683 psf).

A total of 1,375 units were launched for sale by developers in November against 423 in October. The gains in November came from strong demand at new launches - The Linq @ Beauty World and The Landmark.

Year-on-year, the new private home sales last month was 34.2 per cent lower.

This brings the January-November total to 8,791 units - which exclude executive condominium (EC) units - according to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday, based on its survey of licensed housing developers.

The 8,791 new units transacted in the first 11 months of 2020 was down by 8.1 per cent from the 9,566 units in the corresponding period of 2019.

Including EC units, which are a public-private housing hybrid, developers moved 815 units in November, an increase of 19 per cent over 685 units in October, and a year-on-year fall of 31.3 per cent from 1,186.

November's volumes were made up of 447 units in the city fringe or rest of central region (RCR), 236 in the outside central region (OCR) and 84 in the core central region (CCR).

Two city-fringe projects - the 120-unit The Linq @ Beauty World and the 396-unit The Landmark - saw a total of 227 sales.

Therefore, RCR accounted for the bulk of 58.3 per cent of the total new home sales (excluding EC).

Other popular projects were The Garden Residences and Treasure at Tampines.

As homebuyers continue to rush to snap up new condos this month, new home sales for 2020 should not be too far from 2019's which totalled 9,912 units.

Typically, December is a lull period for property sales as families go on holidays, but with the restriction on travel due to the pandemic, we expect some consumers could take the time to review their real estate portfolio and assess buying opportunities on the market, said Ismail Gafoor, CEO of PropNex.

"With two new projects out in December - Ki Residences and Clavon which have respectively sold 143 and 442 units during their launch - we expect new home sales to cross the 1,000-unit mark this month," he said.

UOL Group's last weekend launch of Clavon along Clementi Avenue 1 resulted in the best launch-day sales volume this year, The Business Times reported on Sunday.

It moved 442 units at an average price of S$1,640 per square foot (psf) during its first weekend launch, UOL said.

"No private housing project launch so far this year has seen more than 400 units being sold on the first day," said Mr Ismail.

PropNex is one of the three appointed marketing agents for the 99-year leasehold project.

The 442 units sold make up about 70 per cent of the total 640 units in the project, which is being developed by a 80:20 joint venture between UOL and its subsidiary United Industrial Corporation. Clavon will have two 37-storey towers.

Market watchers note that the pricing for Clavon is similar to that of Parc Clematis, whose developer has sold 524 units from Jan 1 to Dec 6 this year at a median price of S$1,635 psf, according to data from URA Realis.

OrangeTee & Tie's Ms Sun said buyers appear to be looking past the pandemic to hopes of an economic recovery.

Singapore will be entering Phase Three reopening on Dec 28, 2020, where more businesses and social activities are expected to resume.

"The private residential market buoyancy reflected in the crisis year of Covid-19 has been largely counter-intuitive to the current recessionary environment," said Leonard Tay, Knight Frank Singapore head of research.

Citing demand factors in this pandemic year Mr Tay said they included the pent-up demand created by the enforced circuit breaker, HDB homeowners completing their five-year Minimum Occupation Period in Build-To-Order Flats and selling their units to upgrade to new condominiums and "needs-based" purchasers who sold their properties and are now in need of a new home as well as those getting married.

As well there is still the displaced homeowners from enbloc sales in recent years who have yet to find a replacement, he said.

The year ahead could very well see private home sales levelling off to some semblance of pre-Covid-19 normalcy and regularity with above 10,000 new sales for the whole of 2021, said Mr Tay.

READ MORE: Singapore condo resale prices rise for fourth straight month: SRX

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